Is this mold???

kombat · 10-17-2009, 04:29 PM

Hey all,

I just registered, but I've been reading these forums for a while. I've gotten a lot of helpful advice. I recently started brewing my own beer. The first 2 batches were fine, but I've got an issue with my third batch.

It's a Mexican Cerveza, from a malt extract kit. The primary fermentation went fine, but at the end, there was a brown film on top of the beer. It wasn't white or green, so I assumed it wasn't mold, and proceeded to secondary fermentation, racking it to a carboy.

Now it's been in the carboy for 2 weeks, and I'm ready to bottle. However, now the beer has this thin white film on top, and I'm concerned it might be mold. Can anyone tell me what's going on here? Is this mold? Is it safe to drink? You can see a photo of what I'm talking about at this link:

http://swanweddingphotography.com/images/Cerveza.jpg

beretta · 10-17-2009, 04:38 PM

I'll betch you it's safe. I'm not exactly what kind of infection this is, but I've had something very similar before. I just carefully racked the beer from underneigth the white film in the bottle bucket and proceeded at usual, leaving the white film and about an inch of beer in the secondary. My beer was fine. I'd suggest cleaning and sanitizing your equipment super good next time to irradicate the mold/lacto/whatever.... I've heard that can lingure in your equipment and spoil future batches.

bierhaus15 · 10-17-2009, 04:39 PM

Hard to tell exactly what it is, but it looks a lot like an infection of sorts. I would take a little sample of the beer and taste it, that will tell you if its actually infected or just an accumulation of co2 bubbles.

Rick500 · 10-17-2009, 04:52 PM

Don't worry about safety. No organisms that are harmful to humans can grow or live in beer.

It may or may not taste good, but it won't hurt you.

Livendadream · 10-18-2009, 12:28 AM

I just had nearly the same looking (stuff) on a beer I just bottled. I swirled the carboy around gently a day before racking. The stuff went away. I tasted the beer and It was outstanding. I think the stuff was just some yeast that never made to the bottom. I would not worry about it. J

BillTheSlink · 10-18-2009, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick500

Don't worry about safety. No organisms that are harmful to humans can grow or live in beer.

It may or may not taste good, but it won't hurt you.

This is 100 % correct. It may taste bad, but it will not hurt you. One precaution I would take is after bottling I would put the bottles somewhere that wouldn't be ruined if one or two were to burst. If you do get a "bottle bomb" you can then clean up and decide at that point if you want to open them and dump, but don't dump now as in time most off flavors fade and the beer can be salvaged. I have only had one infection and it was Lacto in a Scottish ale that no amount of time would fix and the smell was so bad I just could bring myself to play the waiting game. That being said the taste was a gut turner, but I'm still alive, as is everyone who ever tasted infected beer.

HillbillyDeluxe · 10-18-2009, 04:44 PM

Loks like bubbles to me. Especially if you swirled and it went away. My guess is you went to secondary too early and this was a product of some residual fermentation. I believe the only worry you have is was it finished when you bottled. If not you risk bottle bombs. Otherwise i think you are fine.